GLUTEN SENSITIVITY/ GLUTEN INTOLERANCE
Gluten Intolerance Defined
Gluten intolerance (also known as non-Celiac Disease gluten sensitivity) is the term used when people have a negative reaction to ingesting grains containing gluten that is relieved by the removal of gluten from the diet. Unlike Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance is not an autoimmune disease.
There is a lot about gluten intolerance that we don’t know. What we do know is:
With gluten intolerance, there is apparently no damage to the villi or other parts of the digestive system.
Being gluten intolerant is not the same as having celiac disease or wheat allergy which also relate to the inability to eat gluten.
If you have celiac disease, you are gluten intolerant. But it is possible to be gluten intolerant and not have celiac disease.
Food intolerances occur when the body is not capable of metabolizing certain foods, typically because it lacks certain enzymes necessary to break down particular food components.
With gluten intolerance, unlike with celiac disease, you may be able to tolerate a small amount of gluten occasionally – with no apparent damage to your body. Additional studies are required before it can be said with certainty that there is no damage.
You cannot rule out celiac disease just because of symptoms you are aware of. To learn if you have celiac disease, see Testing For Celiac Disease.
Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance
As a general matter, ingesting gluten can cause a wide variety of digestive symptoms such as: abdominal pain, bloat, constipation, diarrhea, alternation between constipation and diarrhea, gassiness, serious discomfort after eating, skin rashes, feeling of fullness and nothing seems to feel right, headache, fatigue for no good reason and a foggy mind.
Less common symptoms include anemia, eczema, joint pain, leg numbness and osteoporosis. There does not appear to be any damage to the villi in the small intestines the way that celiac disease damages villi.
Age
Gluten intolerance can develop at any age.
Length of time
There is no certainty about how long a person has gluten sensitivity remains gluten sensitive. According to the Mayo Clinic: for some people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, the condition may not be lifelong. Some research suggests that you be retested for sensitivity to gluten after one or two years on a gluten-free diet.
Medical Aspects
Tests for Gluten Intolerance
There is no valid blood test for gluten intolerance. If your physician suggests that you go gluten-free without testing to see what happens, see another doctor. (To learn about switching doctors, click here)
Diagnosis of Gluten Intolerance
The diagnosis of gluten intolerance comes from the fact that after testing which indicates that you do not have celiac disease, you continue to have symptoms after eating gluten that go away when you stop eating gluten.
It is preferable to be tested for celiac disease rather than make assumptions. People have been known to stop eating gluten, then reintroduce a food at a time to see what happens. However, if the reality is celiac disease rather than gluten intolerance, you continue to downgrade your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and leave yourself open to the other serious health conditions that can accompany celiac disease. You will also have to reintroduce gluten to your system in a gluten challenge in order to be tested.
A diagnosis is necessary to claim benefits at work under the Americans With Disabilities Act and to get some health insurance benefits.
A diagnosis lets you know that you are not a hypochondriac
A diagnosis will help family and social relationships take you seriously
If you need a diagnosis sometime in the future, you’ll have to go back to eating gluten with all that brings with it in order to prepare for the test.
Celiac disease is a hereditary disease. If you have it, it is advisable to alert the rest of your close blood relatives so they can get tested. If you just have gluten intolerance or wheat allergy, there is no need to alert the rest of your family members.
Treatment For Gluten Intolerance: Treatment for gluten intolerance starts with eating a gluten-free diet for at least four weeks or until your symptoms disappear.
Then: start adding food to your diet, one food at a time for at least a week or until something triggers you back to the situation you had before. If a particular food creates a trigger, take the food out of your diet.
Keep a journal noting the date when you start each food and the effect. Take the journal with you to your doctor and go over it line by line.